Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 348 Preparation for the next time
The Mechanoids have indeed accomplished a lot.

The appearance of the Destroyer and its ruthless sweep of the Mechanical Race’s own planet made Chen Ming feel quite surprised.

They did indeed manage to clear out the Zerg on all planets that had been invaded by the Chen Ming Zerg, and completely destroyed the planets where no Zerg were found.

The Mechanoids would not gamble on the probability that the Zerg would fail to parasitize successfully.

But they are not doing enough.

After discovering the movements of the Mechanical Destroyers, Chen Ming not only ordered the Zerg hives to begin migrating immediately, but also ordered all the Zerg hives that had just begun breeding to separate a portion of the Zerg units and flee in all directions.

As long as a seed or an egg is left behind, the entire nest can develop again.

Therefore, even if the Destroyer has cleared out the Zerg nests on all planets, not all Zerg on all planets have been killed.

There are still more than forty planets where the Zerg are hiding, and a small number of Zerg eggs are still alive.

Chen Ming still has a chance, but it just takes more time than before.

It can only be said that it was a smart move for the Mechanical Race to take out the Destroyer and ruthlessly destroy several of their own planets.

After all, if the Destroyer was not there, Chen Ming dared to guarantee that it would only take two days for him to make those Zerg parasites living underground come out and cause trouble.

Invading a planet from space is a whole different level of difficulty than doing it on the ground.

The logistics of the Mechanoids would be completely destroyed in a fairly short period of time.

But now that the Zerg has been cleansed by the Destroyer, Chen Ming will definitely not dispatch the Zerg before they grow to a large scale, so as to avoid attracting the Destroyer again and provoking the Zerg again.

There is no large-scale Zerg that can cause damage to the ground facilities of the Mechanical Race, but they can do nothing in front of the Destroyer. Appearing in advance will result in less damage to the Mechanical Race in the end.

Therefore, even if the Mechanical Race cannot completely solve the Zerg problem by doing this, it can at least delay it for a few more days.

Give the Mechanicals one last chance to mine a wave of supplies, and a few more days to research technology that might eliminate the Zerg still lurking underground.

Chen Ming really has no way to solve the current situation where the Zerg's movements are restricted.

The Destroyer could come again at any time, making any action essentially in vain.

But he doesn't actually need to solve it.

Because at the same time as the Zerg fleet attacked, Chen Ming did another thing.

In Chen Ming's cognition, the entire universe is very rich.

Not only are there planets with a large number of exploitable resources, there are also habitable planets far more than Chen Ming had ever known.

However, no matter how rich a place is, there will definitely be barren corners. Near those rich planets, there are also many planets that have no value in development.

Of course, this development value is for living or non-living things other than Zerg.

For the Zerg, as long as there is material, the planet is valuable.

The Mechanical Clan will not deliberately occupy these planets that are of no value to them, and this gives Chen Ming the opportunity to infiltrate.

Therefore, although the three waves of Zerg fleets sent by Chen Ming were all targeting planets that the Mechanical Clan considered valuable and were developing or stationed.

However, every time a Zerg fleet passes through a planet that has no development value to the Mechanical Race, the Zerg will drop some Zerg eggs on it.

Just like what the Black Mist prosthesis did when it encountered the Destroyer.

And this is another thing Chen Ming did.

Even if the Zerg on every planet in the Mechanical Race's logistics galaxies have been cleared out, there are still a large number of planets where Zerg exist, posing a threat to the safety of the Mechanical Race at any time.

Chen Ming didn't know whether the mechanical race had noticed or reacted to this.

He felt that they should have noticed it, but that did not affect the growth of the insect eggs on those "worthless" planets.

The mechanical race has the ability to protect those planets with resources to be developed, but they definitely do not have the ability to protect every planet.

If we really want to sweep every planet where the Zerg exist, especially those barren planets where there is no means of detection to confirm the location where the Zerg eggs have fallen.

Even if you use the Destroyer until it starts smoking, it may not be able to clean it up completely.

This is the most disgusting thing about Chen Ming’s Zerg.

Chen Ming will even disgust the mechanical clan again later.

At this time, Chen Ming was still observing the Destroyer mothership inside the galaxy through some remaining iron atoms in the phase space of the last processed galaxy arrived at by the Destroyer.

This mothership cannot stay in the phase space forever. Sooner or later, it will have to return to the normal universe and will always have to stay somewhere.

Its radiation coil can be replaced, but not all facilities can be replaced, it must be inspected and repaired.

Chen Ming just stared at the Destroyer mothership silently.

Finally, after the mothership dealt with the last planet where no hive was found, it started the jump engine.

Spacecraft in phase space can also take away spacecraft in the normal universe when activating the jump engine.

Therefore, this mothership also took away the mechanical race who chose to migrate with a large amount of facilities and materials because their planets were destroyed within the galaxy.

All that remained in the galaxy were the remains of the destroyed planet.

Chen Ming immediately activated his psychic power, allowing the iron atoms, which were originally keeping a distance from the mothership, to move closer to the location where the Destroyer mothership was jumping.

Equipment was immediately created to record the detailed jump fluctuation data of the mothership when it left.

And through this data, the coordinates of the Destroyer's destination were confirmed.

It was pretty much what he thought, it was the galaxy where the star gate was located in this star area of ​​the Mechanical Clan.

I have to say that the mechanical race is really wealthy.

The Empire can only ensure that there is at least one star gate in a star field, while the Mechanoids have installed star gates in every star region in such a small star field.

Although the activation cost of a star gate is calculated based on the distance between the two star gates, the value of the star gate itself is obvious, especially the singularity that can only be obtained through a natural wormhole.

That's the most important thing.

Chen Ming actually has some, or quite a lot of, ideas about the Star Gate, but now is not the time.

Now, Chen Ming chose to directly let the Queen Zerg squeeze out about a thousand Zerg cruisers, and then let each Zerg cruiser lock onto a galaxy within the Mechanical Clan star field.

It locked onto galaxies that it believed had weak mechanical defenses, or even galaxies without any defenses at all.

Because most of these galaxies are barren planets that have no development value.

Among these thousand Zerg cruisers, only a very small number of them will target some valuable system systems, and these cruisers with different targets are actually just baits to mislead the Mechanical race.

The reason is the same as before.

Chen Ming had not planned to have the fleet jump to the important planetary systems of the Mechanical Clan before because these places were definitely heavily guarded by a large number of troops. Going there would be seeking death, and there was a possibility that the planets would not be touched.

So what the Zerg have to do is very clear, which is to go to those barren planets and drop their eggs.

The mechanical race will not necessarily specifically protect the barren planets. Who would have the time to guard planets that have absolutely no development value?
Therefore, even if it is just a single cruiser, there is a possibility that it will reach the surface of the planet under the siege of the mechanical race and leave insect eggs.

Of course, the premise is that the cruiser’s target cannot be the galaxies developed by the mechanical race.

Although there is no special protection, it does not mean there is no protection. Even some planetary mechanical races that have no development value will at least build a monitoring system covering the entire galaxy inside the galaxy, which is enough to detect the invasion of Zerg cruisers and send a fleet to deal with it.

The mechanical race will also soon discover the further actions taken by Chen Ming to allow more Zerg to infiltrate the mechanical race's star field.

But the mechanical race has no ability to stop it.

They couldn't even deal with the planets in the logistics galaxies that had no development value, let alone the planets in the galaxies that Chen Ming had randomly selected.

Of course, these cruisers that are about to set off can be said to be doomed.

It is worthwhile to exchange a thousand cruisers for more information about the Mechanic star field being parasitized by the Zerg.

But Chen Ming's actual purpose in doing this was not these Zerg cruisers and the planets they were about to parasitize.

The reason he thought of doing this was not because of the matter itself. He didn't even pay full attention to all the cruisers that were about to set off again to confirm whether they could successfully parasitize later.

He was only focusing on one of the Zerg cruisers.

The cruiser's destination is even a galaxy with a high level of mechanical development.

That is the galaxy where the Mechanical Clan’s Destroyer mothership just jumped to and arrived at the Mechanical Clan’s star gate.

It doesn't take long to prepare.

After all the Zerg cruisers had identified their targets, the jump began.

In just a dozen seconds, thousands of Zerg cruisers appeared in thousands of different galaxies, approaching the nearest non-gas planet.

This time, the number of Zerg fleets affected far exceeded that of the previous ones. Although there was only one cruiser in each star system, it naturally triggered the mechanical family's reaction system and attracted the encirclement and suppression of the nearby mechanical family fleets.

But before the mechanical fleet destroyed Chen Ming's Zerg spaceship, the Zerg spaceship had enough time to inject the eggs into those barren planets.

Of course, those Zerg spaceships that headed for galaxies developed by the Mechanical Clan were immediately surrounded and attacked by the Mechanical Clan's fleet.

Only one ship managed to temporarily escape the mechanical race by luck and successfully laid insect eggs on a planet.

As for the ship that jumped to the Mechanic star gate, according to the Empire's division of Mechanic star zones, it should be considered a Zerg cruiser of the Star Gate System No. 7.

The moment the jump ended, it was attacked by the Destroyer.

The jump wave appears at the starting point and the end point at the same time when the jump engine is started, so it is not surprising that Chen Ming reacted so quickly to the mechanical race.

Anyway, his goal has been achieved.

Just before the Zerg cruiser that Chen Ming was concerned about was destroyed, he saw that the star gate in the galaxy had not been activated and there was no sign of activation at all.

The Destroyer mothership seemed to have left the phase space through the phase facilities here and was now in the orbit of a planet, ready to land at any time. It only turned its guns around and attacked the Zerg battleship because of the Zerg cruiser.

These are the proof that the Destroyer will stay here and take charge.

Although Chen Ming had previously speculated that the Destroyer might stay here because of the Zerg.

But he couldn't be 100% sure. After all, the strategic value of the Destroyer was quite obvious, and it obviously had more and better uses to realize its value.

However, with the arrival of this Zerg spaceship, Chen Ming was completely certain of his idea.

And he had the opportunity to try to seize the Destroyer.

Chen Ming gradually became excited.

But he immediately poured cold water on himself. The number of Zerg fleets he had left was already quite small.

There were many large-scale battles in a short period of time, and each time there were huge losses.

The reason why the Queen of Zerg has been able to fight until now is that she has developed long enough on the abandoned Zerg nest planet to survive.

But no matter what, the resources that the insects originally had have been used up and there are not many left, which are not enough to support Chen Ming to continue to cause trouble in the mechanical clan’s territory.

After the excitement, what’s left is what to do.

At least now he had to wait until the Zerg developed again.

In this operation, Chen Ming only had one Zerg hive planet and a Zerg fleet of about 500,000 cruisers, which gave Chen Ming the confidence to use his cruisers to fight against the main battleships.

And the next time Chen Ming leads his fleet to the mechanical star field, there will definitely not be just that many.

With the Zerg's breeding efficiency, it won't take long for Chen Ming to once again form a more terrifying and powerful fleet.

He will have another chance later.

The Destroyer probably won't move again.

Only by ensuring logistics can they have the possibility of persisting in the war.

As for Chen Ming, as long as the mechanical race is willing to guarantee logistics, he still has the possibility of seizing the Destroyer.

There is still a problem that Chen Ming hasn't figured out after fighting several high-intensity battles with the mechanical race.

Where are the external reinforcements of the Mechanical Clan?
Of course, Chen Ming's question went unanswered.

But when his Zerg fleet increases in number, he might try to use a large number of Zerg spacecraft to make a carpet jump to confirm
For now, forget it.

And just when he was busy fighting wits and courage with the mechanical race.

At this time, he is at An Wuping's place in the Odan star field.

Minister Hou also roughly listened to An Wuping's account of how the Black Mist prosthesis seized some Zerg units and attacked the Mechanical Clan.

Of course, what An Wuping said was definitely different from what Chen Ming actually did, and there were also quite a lot of concealments.

But basically one can hear the main point in An Wuping's words, which is that an unknown existence shrouded in black fog has appeared.

In addition to knowing An Wuping, Minister Hou also has information about Chen Ming.

So when he heard the keyword "black fog", he confirmed: "Are you sure it's black fog? When did it appear?"

An Wuping replied, "It was a very thick black fog. Just now, not long after I entered this room, something suddenly emerged from the shadows, wrapped in the black fog... I don't know what it was, but it was probably in human form."

"After the thing in the black fog jumped out, he immediately released more black fog to cover my Zergs. All of the Zergs were affected by the black fog and broke away from the control of the Zerg Queen."

"Black mist..."

There was once a Black Mist psychic known to many people who, as a member of Zuo Jing, attempted to assassinate Chen Ming and Bai Quan who was with Chen Ming.

At that time, it was said that the Black Mist Psychic was killed on the spot by Chen Ming, and no body was left.

However, although there was no body at the time, there was evidence of the Baiquan, so it was recorded according to this statement.

But now, after hearing An Wuping talking about the black fog that had appeared, Minister Hou subconsciously wondered whether this black fog might be related to Chen Ming.

Of course, this was just his subconscious thought, and he quickly ruled it out.

Zuo Jing's brainwashing ability is obvious to all.

Even a psychic who is recognized to have a strong consciousness can be brainwashed, so it is impossible for the Black Mist Psychic to switch to Chen Ming's side.

Not to mention that the brainwashed psychic was still alive when the Black Mist psychic assassinated him. He didn't think that Chen Ming would specifically spare the life of the psychic who assassinated him and Bai Quan.

In addition, Zuo Jing also has a psychic named Qianmian, who has the ability to imitate the psychic effects of other people and transform them into spiritual beads for others to use.

He was also a troublesome guy and finally died at the hands of An Wuping.

It is because of his existence that Black Mist's Heart Spirit Pearl is likely to be lost and controlled by others.

And now Minister Hou had only heard the word black fog from An Wuping.

There are psychics whose psychic effects are similar to those of Black Mist. They are not necessarily from Zuo Jing, and it is even less likely that they are the original Black Mist psychic.

But the sudden appearance of the black fog really makes it hard not to suspect something related to Zuo Jing.

As far as Minister Hou knows, Zuo Jing has been thoroughly dealt with before in history.

The Empire had tried more than once at great cost to cleanse the entire empire of left-wing elements, and it had been "successful" before.

But after a few years or even a dozen years, the left path will pop up again.

This time, the brainwashed psychics of Zuojing were killed, and a large number of Zuojing members surrendered after the brainwashing was completed, so many people believed that the source of Zuojing's psychic power had been erased, and Zuojing was finished.

But could it be that Zuo Jing is not extinct?

Minister Hou thought of a lot of things in an instant, but these were just his personal thoughts. Unless he obtained more evidence, he would not reveal these thoughts at all.

Minister Hou continued to ask An Wuping: "Then how were your Zerg controlled? Was it a psychic?"

"It should be a psyker or some psionic creature, but it's not my bug that is controlled by psionic power."

"There is a pheromone in the black fog that is specifically targeted at the Zerg. It can interfere with the Zerg's judgment and guide them."

"My Queen has obtained the pheromone sample, and I can send it back to the Empire as soon as possible."

Minister Hou nodded slightly and was about to say something else when another voice suddenly rang out from him: "Contact Chen Ming directly and ask him to deliver it. He has the means."

Minister Hou was stunned for a moment, then he took the terminal out from his inner pocket and placed it on the table between him and An Wuping.

An Wuping pointed at the terminal on the table and asked, "Who is this..."

A voice immediately rang out from the terminal: "Hello An Wuping, I am Minister Hou Xianhou's superior, the Minister of the Empire's Psychic Population Management Department, Lu Han."

When Chen Ming heard the origin, he immediately remembered the website "Psychic Census Network" that he had used several times before, which is a website under this department.

Although Lu Han said he was a minister, there was obviously a big gap in rank between him and Minister Hou.

One is a star domain level minister, and the one on the other end of the terminal is an empire level minister.

"Hello, Minister Lu. Do you want me to go directly to Chen Ming?"

"Yes, if you don't mind, you can ask us a few more questions."

Although Minister Lu's words were inquiring, there was a lot of command in his tone.

An Wuping frowned subconsciously. Minister Hou next to him noticed this and said quickly, "Sorry for the trouble."

He was chatting happily with An Wuping, when suddenly the boss came to cause trouble.

Seeing this, An Wuping didn't say much and took out the terminal in front of the two of them.

Of course Chen Ming would not be idle at this time.

Before he arranged for An Wuping to do anything, he knew that someone would come to contact him and confirm what was happening outside.

So before An Wuping finished talking to Minister Hou, Chen Ming had already decided to contact Bai Quan.

When Bai Quan got through to Chen Ming again, he spoke in a nervous tone, "Another thing?"

Recently, whenever Chen Ming called him, there was something, and each one was not trivial.

Bai Quan's scalp was tingling as well.

Especially since he was about to return to the front line and had a lot of things to do recently, but he didn't dare not answer Chen Ming's call. What if there was something important?
Chen Ming immediately said: "This incident is not a big deal, but I found that the Zerg has made new moves."

"Some bugs wrapped in black fog suddenly attacked the mechanical tribe."

"Although it seems that they were all killed by the mechanical race in the end, and there are traces of the Destroyer suspected to be dispatched by the mechanical race, the black fog bugs still left a lot of eggs on nearby planets, and the mechanical race seems unable to clean them up."

"I sent a few ships to try to make contact with the black fog, but the things in the black fog didn't seem to want to make contact with me and dismantled all my ships."

"But I also took the opportunity to take a picture of what the thing in the black fog looked like."

As Chen Ming spoke, he sent Bai Quan a photo of the ugly appearance of the black fog prosthesis that was a fusion of human, insect, and machine.

"I suspect this is a human experiment conducted by Zuo Jing or the Mechanical Clan themselves. Zuo Jing often conducts human experiments, and the Mechanical Clan also has a history of transforming living things into machines, so..."

"Wait a moment."

Before Chen Ming finished speaking, Bai Quan suddenly interrupted him and said, "Don't rush to talk nonsense. Let me chat with you first."

"You said."

"Do you remember that I watched you send that Black Mist Psychic into the hibernation chamber? This person looks quite similar to that Black Mist Psychic."

"Ah this..."

Chen Ming was embarrassed for a moment. He hadn't remembered it yet, but when Bai Quan mentioned it, he immediately recalled the assassination by the Black Mist Psychic.

But at that time, Bai Quan had only taken a quick look at the Black Mist Psychic, and the Black Mist prosthesis was deliberately made ugly by Chen Ming, retaining only a few identity details that could only be seen by looking carefully.

Baiquan could remember it after such a long time? Maybe he was lying to him.

So he looked at the photo he sent several times and said stubbornly, "It doesn't look like it..."

Bai Quan was not disturbed by Chen Ming and said confidently: "What are you going to do? I don't want to see you doing the same thing as Zuo Jing. People's bottom line will slowly lower. Don't cross that line."

Bai Quan's tone was very serious, and Chen Ming could no longer answer in a casual manner.

He said seriously: "I have a clear conscience for everything I have done. I will only use the right means on the right people."

"I will not do anything that is harmful to the Empire and the Legion. In fact, what I am doing is absolutely beneficial to both the Empire and the Legion."

"I just don't want the Empire to find out more about me. That won't benefit anyone."

Bai Quan was silent for a while, sighed, and chose to believe Chen Ming: "So this...neither human nor ghost thing..."

"It's just a little experiment between An Wuping and me. It was indeed done by that Black Mist Psychic. We killed him first, then experimented."

"There are two purposes. One is to attract the attention of the Empire and the Mechanical Race. The other is... to inform the Empire of Zuo Jing's existence."

When Baiquan heard this, he immediately realized that he seemed to have run into trouble again, and asked, "What do you mean? Didn't Zuo Jing's brainwashed psychic die?"

(End of this chapter)